Live review Anthem of the Seas - 18th April 2016

[novicetraveller]

So my shirts finally arrived after I left to go ashore. I am a bit annoyed, but not enough to say my holiday has been "ruined". But not getting some of the clothes back from laundry is a bit careless. I hope this isn't a common thing and I hope this isn't going to happen when I need some further clothes washed before we get back to Bayonne.

 

So today, I went ashore to Barbados. I was going to do the ships excursion, but cancelled it this morning because of the laundry issue.

 

I originally went to a taxi driver who would take me to a couple of places, but he disappeared for nearly an hour, so I gave up and headed back to the ship. I made a pit stop at the bar to get a drink. I got approached by a taxi co-ordinator, I was at the point of saying no, but I asked it depended on where the taxi was going. We went to a botanical garden and the orchid world. It wasn't overly exciting, but it did mean not going back to the port. A lot of the plants at the garden could be seen at Kew Gardens in the UK, so I wasn't overly wowed. The only saving grace was seeing a humming bird. That was worth the $30 alone.

 

I may not post any images from the 2 locations, but will depend on whether I am happy with the quality of the images.

[novicetraveller]

A quick review for yesterday in Barbados.

 

If you are looking to do an independent tour in Barbados with the intent of organising on the day, my advice is to book it as a group of at least 5 to 7. If you are unable to organise a group, be prepared to either pay a lot of money ($200+) or be flexible in where you go. The other option is to do the ships excursion. Despite all the faults with RCI ships excursions, Barbados is one location that would cause less stress if you booked an excursion via RCI.

 

I went to Huntes Gardens and Orchid World along with 4 other Anthem cruisers. I wasn't overly impressed with either location as I can easily see these types of plants in Kew Gardens in the UK. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to see the plants and flowers in a Caribbean garden, but it wasn't anything to sing home about. The only saving grace about Huntes Garden was seeing a Hummingbird. Other than that, I would look elsewhere to see a Garden. They don't have any diabetic friendly drinks available other than tap water. Orchid World was not as good as Huntes Garden. Can't really think much to say about the place to be honest. If you want to see the same type of Orchid in different colours, this is the place to go. If you want a pleasant stroll, this is a nice place to go.

 

 

 

 

Please note that your experiences of these places may vary considerably, and it is a case of doing your own research.

[novicetraveller]

A quick question to you all. I know this is somewhat controversial, but I am just putting the question out there.

 

Every cruise I have done so far, I have given the cabin steward extra tips on top of my gratuity. However, on this cruise, I haven't been overwhelmed with the service offered. Yes, she has done up my room, put the cruise compass on the bed, etc., etc., but a couple of niggles that got me. For example, forgetting to bring my shirts back from laundry, putting 2 day 1 cruise compass (over 2 days). One day 2 whilst walking bare footed, I stepped on a baby / child sized tooth. The room wasn't completely ready at 1pm. I acknowledge that I haven't seen the cabin steward that often during the cruise and in general, she has done the job as expected. I have no intentions of removing the pre-paid gratuity, but the question I am asking is whether I should pay above and beyond in gratuity to the cabin steward with these issues in mind.

 

I don't want this to turn into a flame war or a question of whether I am "Stiffing" the staff. She will still get the basic gratuity, but with the couple of mistakes that should have been avoided, I am wondering what people think.

[Clarea]

... I don't want this to turn into a flame war or a question of whether I am "Stiffing" the staff. She will still get the basic gratuity, but with the couple of mistakes that should have been avoided, I am wondering what people think.

Not sure it's possible to avoid flames with this subject, but we have felt as you do before and just left the attendant with the standard gratuity.

[novicetraveller]

Not sure it's possible to avoid flames with this subject, but we have felt as you do before and just left the attendant with the standard gratuity.

I suspect that people will start an argument and that I am overreacting and say all cabin staff are amazing and needed to be looked upon as saviours of the cruise. I know they are not well paid compared to a few others on the ship. My cabin steward is a nice enough person, so I can only hope people don't see me as trying to demonise her.

[novicetraveller]

I seemed to have forgotten to add some images from my trip to Martinique.

 

I did a tour via a private tour guide who I found on a website called Tour by Locals. I could have done the whole tour, but was conscious of the time we had and wanted to get back to the ship with some time to spare.

 

Some people have said that Martinique isn't a friendly place to visit. 2 things you need to consider. 1, French is the official language. 2, tips are not generally appreciated. So if you have good conversational French, you will do well. If you have a good appreciation of French culture, you will do well. If you have neither, you should either do a ships tour or arrange a private excursion. My french is basic, so I can't hold a conversation with the natives.

 

The tour guide moved to Martinique a few years ago and knows the area well. She had taken us to parts of the island that you wouldn't be able to access on the Ships excursion.

 

 

Our first stop was at the Church that is located near the ship. We spent a short time here, but not long enough as there was some service going on. After the visit to the Church, we had gone to the Botanical Gardens, which, in my opinion, is quite impressive. There was a large tour there ahead of us, but we managed to bypass the queue. Entrance to the Garden is around 13 Euros. Yes, this is a country where Euros is the official currency.

 

Some plants are new to me, as in I have never seen before (or at least cannot recall seeing them before).

 

 

One of the things I wanted to see was the Volcano as close as possible without the need to do a hike. This was possible. We made several pit stops on the way up to take some photos.

 

 

We also had the opportunity to see the waterfall and a stream.

 

 

The waterfall is something you should see at least once. But I don't believe it's something that is available on a ships tour. It will require the ability to use the steps, and circumvent uneven ground and use some pebbles over some water to get to the Waterfall area. If you have been to Jamaica and have done the Dunn River Falls and Irie Blue Hole, you will know you can swim in the waterfall. Just a note, the water is not as clear as Irie Blue Hole, but judging by the fact people were in the waterfall, it should be safe.

 

 

We managed to see a church that is going through some maintenance at the time of visit. This is located in the village / town that was destroyed by the volcano eruption around 100 years ago. It is worth seeing if you want to see some nice stained glass.

 

Before heading back to the shore, we visited some the ruins and also visited the a fishing pier.

 

 

I wish we could have spent some more time on this port, but I have seen enough to want to come back to make a proper visit to the island.

 

As the island is a French colony, there can be some risks of general strikes occurring. So when planning an excursion, you need to understand that there is a risk of your trip to Martinique being cancelled.

 

Judging by RCI's website, Martinique and St Kitts are being dropped from the Itinerary. This is a shame in a way, as Martinique is a nice place to visit. This may affect the tourism trade in the country, but as this is a cash rich country compared to the other Caribbean country, I can only presume that it's not in desperate need for day tourists.

 

I will try and provide the details of the tour guide in my post-cruise review.

[Peeker28]

It's your right to not tip over the standard gratuity. She is still getting something. No flames here, I don't reward for bad service.

[novicetraveller]

It's your right to not tip over the standard gratuity. She is still getting something. No flames here, I don't reward for bad service.

 

I wouldn't go as far as saying it's a bad service, just fallen short of the standard I would have expected based on my past experience with Royal Caribbean.

[Clarea]

I seemed to have forgotten to add some images from my trip to Martinique....

Beautiful photos.:)

[novicetraveller]

Beautiful photos.:)

Thanks. I am in the process of uploading the photos to my cruise diary page on Facebook.

[Mom.to.2]

No flames here. If you feel the service has been adequate but not "wow," the standard gratuity should suffice.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[novicetraveller]

 

We are now arriving into St Kitts.

[reallyhooked]

I suspect that people will start an argument and that I am overreacting and say all cabin staff are amazing and needed to be looked upon as saviours of the cruise. I know they are not well paid compared to a few others on the ship. My cabin steward is a nice enough person, so I can only hope people don't see me as trying to demonise her.

 

Not at alĺ. Enjoying your review.

[Thia]

Enjoying your review.

 

 

 

I don't want this to turn into a flame war or a question of whether I am "Stiffing" the staff. She will still get the basic gratuity, but with the couple of mistakes that should have been avoided, I am wondering what people think.

 

No flaming here. She's getting the recommended gratuity amount, anything above that is at your discretion. If that person isn't going above your expectations you shouldn't have to tip her more.

[novicetraveller]

St Kitts. The last port of call before heading back to the home port in Bayonne.

 

I booked a private excursion for St Kitts, as none of the RCI offerings excited me. I must have misread the cruise itinerary and thought we were docked at 10am and not 11am. As soon as I realised the mistake (the night before the excursion), I emailed the tour guide apologising and letting her know that I thought the ship was docked an hour earlier.

 

Anyway, the tour was supposed to last 3 hours, but ended up lasting around 5 to 5.5 hours. That to me is a bonus. There were supposed to be 4 other people joining the tour, but they didn't turn up. The tour guide did wait 30 to 40 minutes for them to turn up and was able to get 2 more people to join the excursion. For what I am paying for the excursion, it's not unreasonable for the tour guide to get more people to join. I will publish the name of the tour guide when I get home from the cruise.

 

Whilst there is a railway tour that covers the whole island, from what I can understand, you can't get off at many places to take photos. I don't know if this is correct or not, but on this tour there were opportunities to stop and take photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tour guide had provided complimentary drinks throughout the tour and also provided us with some fresh melon to taste and also a coconut cake to taste. The place where we tasted the water melon is situated on a sugar cane plantation site, so as you can imagine, the it tasted sweet.

 

Whilst there are benefits of doing a ships tour, privately organised excursion is often cheaper and far more enjoyable.

 

I don't know off hand what RCI's plans are for coming back to Martinique and St Kitts from next year, but these 2 islands are my favourites so far. After doing a quick scan for April 2017 to December 2017 for 10+ cruises, it doesn't look like there are any RCI cruise ships that will be going to Martinique, which is a shame. I may go to the Next Cruise Desk and ask the question to see what the plans are for returning to Martinique.

[cloud_nine]

Hi novicetraveller! Loving your review so far. As a fellow veggie, I would love to hear more about the vegetarian offerings on the dinner menus. I've been a bit put off from tying Quantum class as I've heard that the veggie options aren't that great in many of the complimentary restaurants. Didn't want to be stuck with salads or Jamie's Italian every night.

[novicetraveller]

Hi novicetraveller! Loving your review so far. As a fellow veggie, I would love to hear more about the vegetarian offerings on the dinner menus. I've been a bit put off from tying Quantum class as I've heard that the veggie options aren't that great in many of the complimentary restaurants. Didn't want to be stuck with salads or Jamie's Italian every night.

To be honest, other than Windjammar, I have pretty much avoided the complimentary restaurants. I did go to Chic for lunch with some CC members today. I had some salad and the butternut squash risotto. I was disappointed in the risotto to be honest. The salad is comparable to Park Cafe on Oasis class ships.

[novicetraveller]

Yesterday was a boring sea day. Spent most of the time in the Casino. There's a part of me that wished the itinerary was a bit more spread out so that we don't spend 3 days being on board the ship on our way back to Bayonne. I know there are plenty of things to do, and that the ports are relatively close to each other. However, it would have been so much better if it were spread out a bit more.

 

Just a couple of images from yesterday.

 

 

 

Just my quick thought of the day. The ship design is a bit confusing for me. Whilst a lot of it makes sense, getting from one location to another hasn't quite made sense yet unlike the Oasis Class ship. At least with the Oasis class ship I don't have to ask myself as to which exit I need to use to go from the Casino to get to the lift to my stateroom.

[novicetraveller]

2nd day of 3 days of our return to Bayonne. An eventless day so far. Have started to pack my stuff away and sent my clothes off to laundry. I hope it comes back tomorrow, or at least returned if it can't be done. Final packing shouldn't take me too long to do, so here's hoping.

 

Just for info to everyone. If people are worried about the fridges in the stateroom not being cold enough, it seems to be cold enough to store my insulin pens. Is it as colder than the fridge at home. Probably not, but it's cold enough.

 

Here's a few images from this morning's sunrise.

 

 

 

 

Here's a few images from last night's sunset.

 

 

[emdmistycc]

Beautiful pictures. Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts.

I will be boarding the Anthem on Saturday.

[novicetraveller]

Morning followers. I have woken up this morning to find that the cabin steward has thrown away all but one of my unused injection needles the evening before. I left a few needles out on the cabinet along with some of my medication so that I can pack my medication stuff away. I know it has been taken as I have checked all the drawers, medical bag and luggage for them and it simply isn't there. I don't know what has possessed the cabin steward to do this. I have now been put in the position where I have to use the needles I have used previously in order to take my medication. This is unacceptable. Why would the cabin steward throw something away that was not in the dustbin?

Edited April 29, 2016 by novicetraveller

[novicetraveller]

Beautiful pictures. Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts.

I will be boarding the Anthem on Saturday.

 

I hope you enjoy your cruise. If you have multiple devices that charge via USB, please make sure you take your power chargers with you and don't rely on the USB ports that are provided in the room.

[novicetraveller]

Ok, this is just to expand on my last post about USB charging. If you have an Android phone (for example the Samsung Galaxy S6 / S7) which supports fast charging, please don't forget to take your USB cable and charger and don't rely on the USB ports in the stateroom for 2 reasons. 1. They don't always work. 2. They don't support fast charging. And as mentioned before, power strips, extension cables, 4 way gangs are allowed in the stateroom. I will post an image when I get back to the UK to demonstrate that they are allowed.

[jonj]

Morning followers. I have woken up this morning to find that the cabin steward has thrown away all but one of my unused injection needles the evening before. I left a few needles out on the cabinet along with some of my medication so that I can pack my medication stuff away. I know it has been taken as I have checked all the drawers, medical bag and luggage for them and it simply isn't there. I don't know what has possessed the cabin steward to do this. I have now been put in the position where I have to use the needles I have used previously in order to take my medication. This is unacceptable. Why would the cabin steward throw something away that was not in the dustbin?

 

Can you contact the medical center and let them know what happened and see if they have any they can give you?

[novicetraveller]

Can you contact the medical center and let them know what happened and see if they have any they can give you?

I wouldn't expect them to have any that would fit my insulin pen with the length I need. I am just grateful to have one spare I can use tomorrow. I will have to make do with what I have and learn not to leave things out.